Fixed
by bratmin
Summary: In which Nico likes Will, Will likes Nico, and Nico's friends think it's stupid they're not together. Particularly Percy, who takes it upon himself to fix it.


As much as Nico had come out of his shell since they'd prevented the end of the world (again, he added bitterly), he still liked he solitude.

He liked to be able to slink away to his cabin and be alone or go hang out in the forest where his only company were nymphs and occasionally Mrs. O'Leary. The nymphs normally steered clear of him and Mrs. O'Leary was a comfort, even if she reminded him of the underworld. It was a nice sort of reminder.

He'd started being friendlier with the other campers, he even had friends now, which wasn't something he was used to. But regardless of that, he still liked to spend most of his time alone.

So, naturally, Will Solace-the ball of happiness, sunshine, and witty remarks-had taken it upon himself to become Nico's personal shadow.

Nico liked Will. He really did. He just preferred Will when he wasn't acting like a total mom. It still made him a little uncomfortable how easily Will touched him. Most of the campers still shied away from him, though at least they didn't completely ignore him any more. It was like they thought he was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.

Will Solace seemed to have some kind of death wish because he was pressing the detonation button over and over. Nico was primed and more than ready to explode.

It didn't help Nico's problem that over the months that followed the end of the war against Gaea he'd formed a stupid and irrational crush on the son of Apollo.

Will was annoying. He was annoying in the way he fussed. He still refused to let Nico do anything 'dark' in case he slipped into the shadows and disappeared forever. Nico was pretty sure he was fine, but the serious look Will got whenever he pushed the issue made Nico think better of it. He wasn't sure the medic wouldn't flay him alive if he tried it.

He was annoying in the way he seemed to pop up exactly when Nico wanted to be alone and refuse to leave. Not that Nico tried that hard to get him to go away. After the first month, he'd given up hope of Will ever leaving him alone.

But most of all he was annoying in the way he made Nico's heart flutter.

Nico wasn't sure if he was being obvious or if his friend were just way too perceptive for their own good. Annabeth had been the first to confront him after only a couple weeks of them being back at camp.

"You're staring again," Annabeth said as she slid onto the bench beside Jason, across from Nico in the mess hall.

Nico blinked and looked at Annabeth, startled. "What?"

Jason's eyes flicked between Nico and Annabeth, his mouth full of coleslaw, but otherwise didn't react.

Annabeth smirked and jerked her head towards the Apollo table. Nico's face heated instantly and he scowled at the daughter of Athena. He no longer held the jealousy and anger towards Annabeth that he used to-in fact, he found he actually really liked her-but he was not above kicking her in the shins and telling her to piss off.

He did neither of these things, however, and decided to interrogate her instead.

"Whatever you think you know, you're wrong," he said, nose in the air as he attempted to look down at her, despite the fact that she was at least a foot taller than him.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, right. You look at him the way you used to look at Percy. Except… less angry."

Nico swallowed thickly, fully aware of the fact that Jason was sitting at the table as well, doing his best to pretend he wasn't there. Nico knew that as soon as Annabeth left, Jason would sink his teeth into the topic and Nico wouldn't hear the end of it for weeks.

"He's… just a friend." It sounded weak to his own ears, but at least Nico managed to keep his face straight.

Annabeth simply smiled-causing Nico's face to twitch in irritation-and stood from the table.

"Whatever you say, Di Angelo. But I think you should go for it. He looks at you the same way."

Nico had chosen to ignore her words. He'd spent the next week and a half doing everything in his power to not be caught alone with Jason. He could tell Jason wasn't too pleased about it. Nico had been given a chance to relax once the second week since his conversation with Annabeth drew to a close since Jason had to go to Camp Jupiter to do pontifex maximus stuff.

His respite hadn't lasted long though. Piper pounced on him a couple days after Jason left, cornering him outside his cabin right before curfew.

"Okay, dude, spill."

Nico groaned loudly. He hated children of Aphrodite. They always wanted to help people find love. Nico had had enough of people playing cupid. He'd met the real one, thanks, and he wasn't to fond of the bastard.

"Piper, I don't want to talk about this."

Piper pouted a little and gave him a look like she wanted to use charmspeak but was restraining herself. Nico appreciated that.

"Nico," Piper said, sighing loudly and crossing her arms. "I'm your friend. We're all your friends. We just want to see you happy… Jason's worried you're holding yourself back."

Nico rolled his eyes. Of course that's what Jason thought. Jason had firmly claimed his place as Nico's 'big brother protector' which was almost as irritating as 'doctor' Will and his constant fussing.

"Pipes, I really appreciate that you all care so much, but I'm fine. I can deal with my own problems."

Piper had sat Nico down a week after the end of the war and given him the 'I'm your friend, you can come to me with any of your problems and I will listen to them and keep your secrets' talk. Nico didn't doubt her. Though he was pretty sure her and Jason could read each other's minds because they both seemed to know anything he'd told the other. That or they just assumed that whole keeping secrets thing didn't apply to the two of them. Either way, Nico still wasn't entirely comfortable talking to either of them about… well, most things.

The only person he really felt that comfortable with was Reyna and she was back at Camp Jupiter doing important boss lady stuff.

Nico really wished she was here right about now.

Piper was frowning at him, though it was more in concern than anything else.

"You shouldn't have to," she said softly.

Nico had escaped shortly after. He'd become far too uncomfortable far too quickly.

Coming out to Percy had been far easier than he'd thought it was going to be. He'd felt so good afterwards. An incredible weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It had seated itself back down as soon as his crush on Will Solace had rooted itself inside him.

He knew he had no chance with Percy. Percy was very straight and very in love. And a boyhood crush wasn't really all it cracked itself up to be. He was easy to get over.

Will was single. Will had never dated anyone at camp. As far as Nico knew, he could be gay. Nico had nothing to go on. And worst of all, Annabeth had said Will looked at him the same way.

Way to inflict utter terror, Annabeth.

Having a crush on a boy Nico could deal with. The thought of said boy actually liking him back? Well, that was another thing entirely.

Nico usually tried to stay away from Will. Which only seemed to piss Will off more and make him stick to Nico like glue.

He was pretty sure Will didn't like being avoided.

He managed to rein in his emotions for the most part and eventually went back to letting Will fuss over him.

"Your wound still isn't healing properly," Will muttered angrily as he dabbed the scratch on Nico's arm with a salve. Nico resisted the urge to wince.

"If you want, I can go find that werewolf in Tartarus and ask him why his scratch isn't healing." Nico's sarcasm was thick but without heat.

Will gave him that look like he wanted to smack Nico upside the head. Nico was glad he resisted the urge.

"It should have healed by now. Werewolf or not, it's only a scratch and it's been two months since it happened. It doesn't look like it's getting any better."

Nico snorted. "You should have seen it the first couple days. Trust me, this is better."

Will sighed and wrapped the wound, pulling the sleeve of Nico's t-shirt down to cover most of the bandage. "I'm going to talk to Chiron about it. He might know something I don't."

Nico nodded meekly and rubbed his forehead. He hadn't been sleeping well for at least a week. He was sure it was the stress getting to him. He'd grown so used to having Reyna's strength to back him up that he felt like half of him was missing now. Even though it had been over two months, he still felt like he would never be as strong as he was before this all happened. Before Tartarus happened.

His energy had been draining since then. He'd managed to get it back in fragments but he doubted he would ever be the same. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew Will was right about the shadow-traveling. He probably would never be able to do it again. Or at least for a couple years. He had grown to close to the shadows. He got any closer and he would become one with them.

Will seemed to pick up on a lot of what was wrong with him. He'd already given Nico something to help him sleep.

Nico's eyes drooped and he realized it was working. He let Will ease him down on the bed in the infirmary without protest. He knew he needed this sleep. He was vaguely aware of someone brushing his hair from his eyes as he slipped into darkness.

Nico awoke to the sound of purring and a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes slowly, trying to gage how bright it was. He had obviously slept the rest of the day and into the night because it was dark in the infirmary. He opened his eyes fully and realized, no, it wasn't dark. There was just a large mass of black fur directly in his line of sight.

He sighed and let his fingers slide across the soft fur of Will's black nurse cat, Giatrós, which meant doctor in greek. Apparently a cat's purr had a strong therapeutic healing power to it. He wasn't sure if that was true for all cats or just for this one. He did seem like an unusual cat. Most animals hated him. They could literally smell the death on him. Giatrós never seemed to leave him alone whenever he was in the infirmary. Whatever his magic was, it worked. Nico always felt more relaxed whenever Giatrós was purring on his chest.

He maneuvered himself, holding the cat to his chest before transferring him to is lap as he sat up. Giatrós didn't seem to care. He just curled up contently on Nico's lap and purred away.

It was darker in the room than it had been when he'd fallen asleep. From the sound outside the building, he guessed they were just starting the campfire.

He started a little when the door opened. He lips twitched at the corners just a little when he saw Will. The healer smiled widely at Nico and jerked his head towards the fire pit.

"Come on, your friend are worried about you."

Nico rolled his eyes. His friends were always worried about him.

He lifted Giatrós into his arms as he stood. He tried to set the cat down but he seemed to have a different idea. The small black cat move in is arms and climbed it's way onto Nico's shoulder, sitting there primly, his purr never faltering.

Will laughed softly in a way that made Nico's world go a little sideways.

"Man, he really likes you. You might as well accept it. He's not going to leave you alone until he's assured you're fully healed."

Nico sighed loudly and accepted his fate. He would never be fully healed knowing his luck.

He let Will lead him out if the infirmary and towards the campfire that was glowing strong in the rapidly setting sun.

He waved meekly when Jason spotted him and called out. Will grabbed Nico's hand-causing the son of Hades to practically jump out of his skin as an electric shock of heat seared it's way up his arm and through the rest of his body-and dragged him over to Jason and Piper, who were sitting at the top of the amphitheatre.

Nico pulled his hand from Will's as soon as he could but he knew Jason and Piper had noticed. He ordered his pounding heart to cut it out and pointedly did not look at either of them.

The fire had gone more or less smoothly. Will did not attempt to give Nico a heart attack again, which he was thankful for.

He knew by the look on Jason's face the whole campfire that he was going to get an earful afterwards. He had avoided it long enough. He figured he should let Jason have his moment to fuss.

"You two were holding hands," Jason said as soon as he'd managed to get Nico alone; which hadn't been till the next morning, but it was still far too soon in Nico's opinion.

Nico sighed loudly and rubbed his forehead. "Actually, he grabbed my hand. It was not mutual holding, it was dragging."

Jason waved him off. "Doesn't matter. I saw the look on your face. Normally if someone touched you like that you'd send them straight to Hades. "

Nico grunted and crossed his arms uncomfortably. "Yeah, so? He's worn down my resistance, so what?"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "You're smitten, aren't you?"

Nico's face was five shades darker, he was sure of it. He punched Jason in the arm. "I am not. He's just a friend."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh? A friend who makes you look like you're about to pass out when he holds your hand? You're like an 11 year old school girl."

Nico punched Jason in the arm again and this time Jason winced.

"Shut up," Nico muttered, but even he could tell there wasn't any heat behind it. Jason was right. He was smitten. And it was annoying.

Of course, he'd known this for a while. It was just a matter of accepting it. He usually liked to ignore feelings like this. Will seemed to demand his attention, though. His smile could melt ice and his hair shone like sunlight. His eyes were blue like Jason's, but it was a different kind of blue. Jason's eyes were electric, like streaks of lightning through a clear sky. Will's eyes were softer. They were still dazzlingly bright but they were closer to the striking colour of the feathers of a blue bird. Soft, yet vibrant. Nico lost himself in them a lot.

Which seemed to be bad for his health in more ways than one.

He hissed in pain as it clouded his vision. The suddenness of the stinging across his chest shook him out of his reprieve. He dropped his sword as his hand went to his chest. It didn't hurt that much, honestly, he'd been through far worse, but he hadn't seen it coming. He guessed he should actually pay attention when he was in fight training.

He'd been helping Percy run the new recruits through some basic sword fighting drills when he'd seen Will in the stands and gotten distracted by his smile and those freaking eyes.

Now Will was at his side, looking him over with practiced discipline. The camper who'd slashed him was sputtering about how she hadn't meant to hurt him, she'd just expected him to block. When she realized he wasn't paying attention it was too late to stop her blow. She'd managed to regain enough control that it wasn't that deep a wound but he'd still been slicked from his left shoulder down to the bottom of the right side of his rib cage. Percy helped to calm the campers after checking that Nico wasn't in danger of dying as Will helped Nico to his feet. He hadn't remembered falling to his knees.

A wound this shallow shouldn't have sapped the strength out of him as much as it seemed to have.

Will pulled Nico's arm around his shoulders and put his arm around Nico's waist. Nico froze and tried to shy away from him but Will keep him there with a firm grip that still startled Nico. Will didn't look as strong as he was.

"Would you rather I carry you?" Will hissed in his ear. Nico stopped fighting and let Will help him towards the infirmary where another Apollo kid and Giatrós met them.

Nico let the healers fuss over him, healing up the wound with ambrosia and nectar. Will was muttering to himself angrily and Nico wasn't sure who he was mad at.

Nico took silent comfort from the cat curled up beside his head, purring loudly in his ear. He closed his eyes and let the healers work on him until they were satisfied. When Nico opened his eyes his chest was wrapped in white bandages. They weren't staining red, which was a good sign.

"Am he all patched up, doc?"

Nico's eyes moved to the doorway, where Percy was standing, his arms crossed. Nico could tell from his expression that his smile was forced. Nico was touched that he was so worried, but he wasn't sure why everyone was making such a fuss over it. He'd zoned out and paid the price for not paying attention.

"I'm fine, Percy. Just a scratch."

Will looked like he wanted to strangle Nico, but due to the fact that Nico was laying in his hospital bed, he resisted.

"You are not fine," Will said with a huff. "You will live, but that doesn't mean you're fine."

Percy's smile slipped and his face showed the worry he'd been attempting to hide. "What's wrong with him?"

Will blew a stray piece of blond hair from his eyes and crossed his arms. "Other than the fact that he has a werewolf infected cut on his arm that refuses to heal, he's got his chest sliced open and he broke his powers? Other than that, nothing's wrong with him. Except maybe his attitude."

Nico and Percy both rolled their eyes but Percy was quick to get back to the problem at hand. "What do you mean he broke his powers? He's not going to turn into a werewolf, is he?"

Will sighed loudly and rubbed the back of his neck. "No, the full moon was last week. If he was a werewolf, we would know. He used his shadow travel too much trying to get the Athena Parthenon to camp."

Nico opened his mouth to protest. He'd nearly killed himself to save the camps and Will was acting like what he'd done was a bad thing!

Will held his hand up to silence Nico's next words. "I'm not saying what you did wasn't good. It was amazing and incredibly heroic. I just wish you would realize that you won't be able to shadow travel again. Probably ever. Remember what happened last time?"

Nico looked down and away, refusing to meet Will's eyes. He did remember. He'd been an idiot to try it, he knew that, but it hadn't been one of his best days.

Nico usually didn't need other people to depend on. But not having Reyna or Hazel around was killing him a little. He'd tried to shadow travel to Camp Jupiter just to see them. He'd been half in the shadows when Will grabbed his arm and yanked him out. It had been quite the scene, actually. They'd both fallen to the ground and Nico had fallen right through Will.

Will rolled out of Nico and knelt beside his ghostly body. Nico 's vision was hazy but he could see the panic etched on Will's face. He could hear Will scolding him before the healer started screaming for Coach.

Nico had woken up in the infirmary four days later, solid again with a very bad headache.

Will had barely left his side since.

Nico couldn't really blame him. He had a track record of doing stupid things that ended up almost getting himself killed. For the greater good or not, Nico wasn't very good at staying out of trouble.

Will sighed and stood from his chair beside Nico's bed. "I'm going to call Reyna or Hazel or someone who's better at talking sense into you than I am." He gave Nico a look that Nico couldn't quite interpret before turning to Percy.

"Make sure he stays in bed."

Percy nodded and took the seat Will had just vacated as Will left the cabin, muttering to himself.

Nico refused to look at Percy. He knew what kind of face Percy had. He'd spent enough time studying Percy's face to know.

"You said before… that we were cool," Percy said softly. Nico flicked his eyes towards him. "And I'm just wondering… are we?" Percy met Nico's gaze and the son of Hades whipped his head around to face the wall.

Percy sighed loudly. "We don't seem cool. You know I had no idea, right? I'm not very observant with that kind of stuff. Apparently Annabeth had a crush on me since we were 12 and I didn't figure it out until we were 15. What I'm trying to say is… I didn't mean to hurt you or anything. I want you to be happy, Nico. You deserve it after everything you've been through. I'm glad you found someone. I hope you're happy with Will. He really does just care-"

Percy's voice faltered when he found himself face to face with a very angry looking Nico.

"I'm not with Will. He is my obnoxious shadow who rarely leaves me alone."

Percy blinked in surprise, his face contorting in confusion. "Really? I mean, you two… the way you look at each other… You look pretty in love, dude. You were staring at Will when you got hurt earlier."

Nico flushed and chewed at his bottom lip. "For someone who's not very observant you see a lot more than you should."

Percy still looked thoroughly confused. "So… you're not together?" He watched as Nico shook his head. "But… you want to be together."

That last part wasn't a question and it pissed Nico off that he was right.

"I… Maybe… So what? It's not going to happen." Nico picked at a spot on the blanket as he spoke, voice getting softer with every word until he was almost whispering.

Percy was silent for a long time-so long that Nico almost thought he'd fallen asleep or zoned out-until he scoffed loudly suddenly. Nico jumped and looked at him in surprise. Percy sat with his arms crossed and an irritated look on his face.

"This is ridiculous. You two obviously like each other. Why can't you be together? You should be together. I mean, it's stupid that you're not and even more stupid that you think it's never going to happen. You're going to get together or so help me… You know what? I'm going to make it happen." Percy stood from his chair, determined. Nico's eyes widened. "It's my new goal. You're going to be dating by the end of the week."

"Uh, Percy, that's…" Nico couldn't get another word out because Percy walked out the infirmary door with his head held high and closed the door behind him, Nico's hand outstretched to try and reach him.

Nico blinked as he spoke into the darkness.

"Did that really just happen?"

Unfortunately, yes. Two days after Nico had gotten hurt, Reyna and Hazel showed up at Camp Half-Blood. Nico was ecstatic to see them, though he wasn't too happy about why they were there. Will had followed through with his threat and had called them to come and talk some sense into him.

Hazel threw herself at him the moment she saw him, her bushy hair flying. He smiled as he hugged her back, face burying into her curls as he breathed in her sweet scent.

"Hey sis," he whispered, trying not to show the emotion he was feeling. He missed his girls. He peeked through her hair at Reyna, who was smiling widely at him, obviously waiting her turn for a hug. When Hazel stepped back, Reyna was on him in seconds, holding him close and squeezing him only a little too hard.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly, the concern overflowing from her voice. Hazel placed a hand on his shoulder and he could tell she wanted to know as well. He sighed softly and nodded.

"I'm fine, guys… really. It's just been… I've been better."

Reyna pulled back and looked down at him, face etched with concern. She brushed his hair from his face and sighed softly.

"Will told us what you did before… you should have just called if you wanted to see us. We would have sent a car to pick you up. Or come down ourselves."

Nico looked away and chewed his lip. "It wasn't really… a rational decision. I just wanted to see you guys… immediately. I tried it and it didn't work… I haven't tried it since, simple as that."

Reyna sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose like she was searching for patience. Hazel smiled sadly at him and kissed his forehead.

"Come on, lets go for a walk. I think you need to let loose about some stuff, right?"

They'd spent the rest of the day walking together and talking, just Nico and the two people he loved more than anything else in the world.

It wasn't until the day after that Nico realized Percy hadn't been kidding around with his threat.

"Uh, Percy? What is this?"

Nico looked at the table in the middle of the infirmary, complete with two chairs, a candle and two plates of what looked like pasta.

Percy grinned at him and looked at the table. "A candle lit dinner. What else could it be? Will should be here soon."

Nico honest to gods face palmed.

"I hate you so much right now. This is the opposite of helping."

Percy looked so chest fallen Nico almost apologized. Until Will walked in the door and saw what Nico was looking at.

"Uh… Am I interrupting something?" The slightly aggressive tone in Will's voice was incredibly sexy and Nico would be lying if he said he didn't like what looked like jealousy on Will's face. Percy obviously picked up on it as well because he waved his hands in front of his face and shook his head.

"No, no, this is for you two… a date. Uh… Enjoy." He forced Nico into one of the chairs-with emphasis on forced-before steering Will toward the other and sitting him down as well. He slipped out the door with a little wave and-for good measure-locked the door behind him.

Nico sat there staring at his pasta, biting his lip so hard he probably bruised it. Will didn't make a sound but Nico could feel his eyes on him.

"Um…" Nico started, still not looking up at the blond. "This… this wasn't my idea. Percy thinks… I mean… He's just kidding around, you don't have to consider this a… a date… unless you want to, I mean. That's… okay too."

With every word he felt more and more like he just wanted to disappear into the shadows, never to be seen or embarrassed again. When Will said nothing in response still, Nico slowly lifted his eyes.

What he saw made his heart skip a beat. Will was smiling at him in the kind of way he only saw Percy do to Annabeth or Jason to Piper. It was the kind of smile you only gave someone you would give your life for. Nico felt like he was going to die.

"You are…" Will shook his head, unable to find the words. He looked down at his plate and laughed softly. "Your friends are pretty… determined."

Nico flushed darkly, though he couldn't take his eyes off of Will. He watched Will's glass filled with what looked like Orange Juice as the blond lifted it off the table and raised it in a toast.

"To Percy… for finally getting you to ask me out."

Nico's jaw dropped as Will took a sip.

"I did not!" Nico exclaimed. "And you could have asked me out, you know!"

Will burst out laughing, eyes sparkling. Nico couldn't help but smile and chuckle a little as well. He stopped, however, when Will reached over and tucked a piece of Nico's hair behind his ear.

"I know… And I should have. I just… couldn't stand the idea of you saying no. That maybe I would have to stop spending time with you. I think that might kill me."

Nico swallowed thickly. "How could I say no to you? You're like… well, you're like a god."

Will laughed again, shaking his head. "You're amazing… So you want to give this a try?" He gestured to the display in front of them. "Dating?"

Nico smiled a little, feeling slightly braver than he normally would now that everything was out in the open. "Yeah… I think I can manage that."

Will was annoying. Nico's friends were annoying. Percy was especially annoying. But he loved them all anyways.


End file.
